Campaign briefing: Moore, Tiahrt face changes in power

Shifting majority

(Wichita Eagle) Tiahrt, Moore see shift in roles as House control flips: he political upheaval on Capitol Hill from last week's election left two veteran Kansas congressmen in uncharted territory. For Republican Todd Tiahrt of the 4th District, the horizons have narrowed. He has been in Congress since 1994, when his party took control for the first time in 40 years. He gained a foothold in party leadership and worked his way up the powerful Appropriations Committee as the GOP held Congress in an iron grip. He has never known the powerlessness of the minority. "I have a lot of lessons to learn," Tiahrt said. "Some of them are going to be hard. But I'm a quick learner." Democrat Dennis Moore of the 3rd District, meanwhile, is contemplating what's possible. Elected in 1998, he has always been beholden to Republicans for any legislation he has tried to pass. But come January, Democrats will be in charge. "I hope it will give me an opportunity to get more done," Moore said.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R)

(Jewish Press) Yeshiva University Republicans Host Kansas Senator Brownback: Just two days after the Republican' punishing election night, Senator (and potential presidential candidate) Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) addressed 110 Yeshiva University students at a luncheon organized by the Yeshiva University Republicans (YUR). Despite his party's losses, Brownback said that "the principles that the party has established since Reagan remain true and the country remains a center-right country. A lot of the places where we lost, the Democrats ran as Republicans, they ran on our philosophy." Brownback acknowledged that "these past couple of years, [the Republicans] failed to execute [their] philosophy." Addressing this failure, he exhorted the crowd: "If you have a philosophy that you're bringing forward, live it, do it. Don't shy away from it, and for heavens sake, don't betray it."

Sen. Pat Roberts (R)

(The Hill) Dems may expand Senate majority in '08: Senate Democrats will have a wider field of possibilities and probably more open seats available to expand their majority in 2008, though Senate Republicans will have several chances to pick off red-state Democrats. ... n the Republican side, Sens. Pat Roberts (Kan.), 70, Pete Domenici (N.M.), 74, and Ted Stevens (Alaska), who turns 83 on Saturday, have all told The Hill they intend to seek reelection. But speculation is rampant about Sens. John Warner (Va.), 79, and Wayne Allard (Colo.), who is at the tail end of a two-term-limit pledge.

(Washington Post) Senator Outlines Plans For Intelligence Panel: Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) spelled out his agenda for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday, promising not only to look back at issues such as the surveillance of overseas phone calls, CIA detention activities and the use of prewar Iraq intelligence but also to look ahead at emerging global terrorist threats. Rockefeller will become chairman of the committee in January. ... Partisan disagreements have kept the panel from concluding the second phase of its review of prewar Iraq intelligence. The report includes a contentious section dealing with how information was used in public speeches to build support for the invasion. Rockefeller called that assessment one of "our core oversight responsibilities." He said it can be taken up "without raking over the old coals again." Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), the current chairman, has talked about trying to get the second phase concluded in the current session, but it is unclear whether that can be accomplished.

Rep. Dennis Moore (D)

(Business Insurance) House committee to consider insurance issues: The House Financial Services Committee expects to take up at least three major insurance issues after it convenes under new leadership in January, according to a key member of the committee. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., said the committee would consider extension of the federal terrorism insurance backstop, the possibility of allowing insurers to seek federal rather than state charters and seeking solutions to natural catastrophe risks in the new Congress. "All of these issues are high on the Financial Services list," said Rep. Moore during brief comments Wednesday morning at a seminar on insuring catastrophic risks sponsored by Washington law firm Wiley Rein & Fielding L.L.P. and the University of Connecticut School of Law.

(Arkansas Democrat Gazette) Panel seat seen as helpful for Pryor: The Blue Dogs, a fiscally conservative group of Democrats, voted Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas its co-chairman for communication Tuesday night. On Wednesday, at a news conference, it named the other co-chairmen - Rep. Allen Boyd of Florida, for administration, and Rep. Dennis Moore of Kansas, for policy.

Rep.-elect Nancy Boyda (D)

(KC Star) 'No call' is no law during elections: Thousands of irritated voters this year flooded regulators with complaints about the misleading telemarketing calls that initially posed as opinion polls but launched into nasty diatribes against a political opponent, mainly in tight U.S. congressional races. ... Boyda said her campaign used only one automated call but that wording in dozens of others misled voters to believe her campaign was disturbing them. "In Congress I'll fight to end this kind of dirty politics," she said in a recorded message on her Web site.